Friday Fiction is hosted this week by Lynn, over at Faith, Fiction, Fun and Fanciful, where you’ll find MckLinky with the list of the other participants this week.
Thirty years ago this weekend, I asked Nancy to marry me, and we made that decision to undertake this wild, incredible adventure called Marriage. Around that same time frame, I wrote this week’s entry for her. Nancy has always loved horses, and that first autumn we were together, she started collecting unicorns (which weren’t nearly as easy to find then as they are now). “Equestrian Fantasy” was a natural expression of her fascination with unicorns, and the crazy obsession of a man in love trying to find them for her.
I’m not sure she’s ever explicitly said so, but I suspect that, of all the things I’ve written, this has long remained her favorite.
I love you Nancy, and I’m looking forward to our next thirty years together.
Equestrian Fantasy
By Rick Higginson c. late 1979
For Nancy
I turned my eyes to a fantasy,
Of other things that I might be.
I fancied myself a jet-black colt
With a single mark like a thunderbolt.
I danced on fields and amidst the trees,
So light to run, so quick to tease.
For maids I had no care nor eye,
My heart was young, my spirit high.
Pegasus I saw me then,
Stately there from knowing when
These bonds of Earth grew too proud,
I’d leave them humble beneath a cloud.
From humankind I’d naught to gain,
I sought only wind to pull my mane.
In summer skies I dance on wings
Keeping time to the song the moonlight sings.
A unicorn I dreamt me now
Upon soil that’d known no plow,
Lord of all free and untamed
In a naked world, yet unashamed.
Then I saw you cross a downy field,
To this princess fair I had to yield.
They called your name – a plea to stay,
But upon my back you rode away.
Thirty years ago this weekend, I asked Nancy to marry me, and we made that decision to undertake this wild, incredible adventure called Marriage. Around that same time frame, I wrote this week’s entry for her. Nancy has always loved horses, and that first autumn we were together, she started collecting unicorns (which weren’t nearly as easy to find then as they are now). “Equestrian Fantasy” was a natural expression of her fascination with unicorns, and the crazy obsession of a man in love trying to find them for her.
I’m not sure she’s ever explicitly said so, but I suspect that, of all the things I’ve written, this has long remained her favorite.
I love you Nancy, and I’m looking forward to our next thirty years together.
Equestrian Fantasy
By Rick Higginson c. late 1979
For Nancy
I turned my eyes to a fantasy,
Of other things that I might be.
I fancied myself a jet-black colt
With a single mark like a thunderbolt.
I danced on fields and amidst the trees,
So light to run, so quick to tease.
For maids I had no care nor eye,
My heart was young, my spirit high.
Pegasus I saw me then,
Stately there from knowing when
These bonds of Earth grew too proud,
I’d leave them humble beneath a cloud.
From humankind I’d naught to gain,
I sought only wind to pull my mane.
In summer skies I dance on wings
Keeping time to the song the moonlight sings.
A unicorn I dreamt me now
Upon soil that’d known no plow,
Lord of all free and untamed
In a naked world, yet unashamed.
Then I saw you cross a downy field,
To this princess fair I had to yield.
They called your name – a plea to stay,
But upon my back you rode away.
4 comments:
I love this! And I love horses too, though I confess I've never been a unicorn fan. :)
Wonderful! I can see why your wife enjoys this one. My sister-in-law is a huge unicorn fan.
Congratulations on your thirtieth anniversary! Isn't October a perfect time of year to get married? It's funny that we both posted poems about our spouses this week in celebration of anniversaries! Your poem is just beautiful. What a precious gift for your young wife that I'm sure she has treasured more with each passing year.
Actually, we just got engaged in October. Our 30th Wedding Anniversary will happen this coming February. Four months from now, we'll be celebrating in Fiji.
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